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Biggest environmental threat for Europeans is air pollution

Atmospheric pollution remains the biggest environmental threat for Europeans, according to an annual report by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) for 2013-14.

Moreover, increased biomass burning fuel consumption rates, as a result of the financial crisis, have had an especially negative impact on Greece, where an estimated 25,000 people die each year because of atmospheric pollution.

It was the first time the report made special reference to the burning of wood and other biomass, and noted rising rates in Greece, Spain, Hungary and Croatia due to price hikes in other energy forms.

The report said that in 2014, the concentration of PM 10 particles in the atmosphere were way above safety limits throughout the continent. In Greece, the highest concentrations were recorded in Athens, Patra, Larissa and Ioannina.

All in all, 16 EU countries, including Greece, recorded safety limit violations more than 25 times in 2014.